Students question the future of the Law & Society (LASO) track at JCU as two adjunct professors will not be returning for the fall semester.

Professors Sara Schiavoni and Zachary Paris were informed a couple of weeks ago that their teaching contracts would not be renewed for the 2024 fall semester. This was especially a shock for Schiavoni, who has been teaching at JCU for 21 years.

Concerned about the situation, some students wrote a petition to present to administration in the hopes that the issue would be reconsidered. One of the authors of this petition is Ryan Moore ‘26, who felt compelled to take up the issue almost immediately after discovering the news. He feels that losing Schiavoni will be detrimental to students on the LASO track.

“She is the person who has created the law courses from the ground up and has taught them in this department and at this university for 21 years,” Moore stated. “In my opinion, because of what’s going on with the cutting of the courses and not offering contracts, it is going to be very difficult to succeed in getting a law and society minor and getting the law background that many students come for.”

Multiple students were especially dismayed with learning this information through word of mouth and other students rather than through administration. Even more surprising to those on the pre-law track was the information that these changes, which they feel weigh heavily on the quality of their education, were not going to be released to the public until course offerings were finalized and published.

Chase Tuller ‘27 discussed this issue as a young student in the program. “As a freshman enrolled in political science with a law and society minor at John Carroll University, I find the prospect of program reductions alarming. Specifically, the potential departure of Dr. Schiavoni, a highly esteemed professor, is troubling,” Tuller expressed. “The uncertainty surrounding the future of my education is concerning, given the significant financial investment involved.”

When news of significant change takes place, people typically wonder about the “why” behind the occurrence. In the opinion of the Chair of the Political Science Department, Dr. Andreas Sobisch, the signs seem to point to enrollment numbers and the downhill trend that started in the early 2000s.

“The first time when the university experienced serious budgetary issues was in 2004, 2005,” Sobisch explained. “We experienced a sudden unexpected drop in enrollment from one year to the next. And so that was the first time we had to seriously think about budget priorities, budget cutting and all of that.”

When departments are told to cut budgets, adjunct professors are often the first to be impacted. Many question whether the reduction of professors would truly cut down costs. “The problem with adjuncts, of course, is they’re really cheap at this university. So in a way, getting rid of adjuncts doesn’t really save that much money. That’s sort of one of the dilemmas,” Sobisch elaborated.

The enrollment numbers seem to weigh heavily on the decision-making process when it comes to the part-time professors who will return each semester. Interim Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences Doctor Rodney Hessinger explained his view on the reasoning behind these decisions.

“Any part-time contract is particular to a class and to a particular semester. Faculty don’t have any guarantee of being offered a class the next semester,” Hessinger detailed. “We have had four years of smaller enrollments, and so the total student population is smaller, which means we don’t necessarily need as many classes.”

However, Hessinger assures students that the LASO course offerings and opportunities are still available to continue to support a pre-law education program. Currently for the fall 2024 semester, there are 14 sections of offerings for pre-law students, including courses such as Business Law, Law, Ethics & Criminal Justice Policy and Introduction to Law and Society.

“I think we’ve got a solid slate of offerings that will get people to appreciate the law and its various aspects,” Hessinger commented.

There are still a multitude of different views surrounding the future of the pre-law program. The student body can only wait to see how things will play out in the coming semester.